


Before It Went Up In Flames (Sophmore Year)

by KelloggsCornsnakes



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trans Male Character, Trans Rich, rich centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 17:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11741652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelloggsCornsnakes/pseuds/KelloggsCornsnakes
Summary: In Freshman year, Rich Goranski was a friendless loser.In Sophmore year, he gets a SQUIP.





	1. Chapter 1

On the first day of Sophmore year, Rich Goranski goes to school with a streak of red in his hair. It's meant to be a confidence booster. An impression maker of sorts. It's something that will make him stand out from the crowd. Maybe, if he's lucky, it will be enough to spark a conversation. Have a postive outlook on it, Rich, that's what his foster mom told him.

Presently, he strides down the hall, allowing a smile to spread across his face. Then, he catches his reflection in the mirror on Chloe Valentine's locker and it fades away fast. There's that stupid gap between his front teeth, visible to the entire school. He looks like a second grader. Or a hill billy. He closes his mouth to hide it, settling into an expression that he hopes makes him appear more approachable.

He realizes very suddenly that he's stopped walking to think and that he's been staring into Chloe's mirror for the past few minutes. Great. That's one impression to make. Psycho creep slash stalker slash friendless nobody. But, somehow, Chloe doesn't seem to have noticed him at all. In fact he's absent not only to her but the rest of her friends as well. Jenna Rolan is completely absorbed in her phone, texting rapidly. Brooke Lohst is laughing at a joke. So is another girl who Rich thinks is named Madeleine. And telling it, leaning back with his hands in his pockets, looking as suave and mega-cool as usual, is Jake Dillinger, macho lady's man.

Jake Dillinger is just about the last person Rich wants to see right now.

It's not that he's mean. It's the opposite, actually. Jake is pretty much akin to an angel sent from Heaven. He's perfect in every way a person can be perfect. Hell, even his teeth are straight and sparkly white and lacking in any unsightly gaps.

Jake, however, doesn't know Rich exists. That's par for the course at this point but it doesn't mean it hurts any less. The few times he's acknowledge his presence, he's always been the nicest, sweetest type of stranger possible, but he has been a stranger. If there's one thing Rich could do without, it's being introduced to him for the eighth time.

He tries to move on down the hallway but something holds him back and he keeps watching over his shoulder. Over the Summer, Jake has gotten a tan and gained a few inches. He's so tall now that Rich, who hasn't grown at all since middle school, would have to stand on his tip toes to kiss him. The thought stops him in his tracks and glues him to his spot. He feels his hands become very, very sweaty as Jake turns his head in his direction. Gross. He wipes them on his jeans and licks his lips so they'll be less dry. Jake is looking right at him now, meeting his eyes, and then he's moving.

Rich really doesn't mean to yelp quite so loudly or to run quite so hurriedly away, especially after he feels a hand clamp down on his shoulder and gazes up at the drama teacher. He gives a shrug and a shaky smile but it's to no avail. After school, he lugs his backpack after him down to the drama studio for detention. Disruption his ass. Mr. Reyes just wants an excuse to force someone else to paint sets for the play, which hasn't even held auditions yet, considering it's the first freaking day.

The first day of sophmore year is over. Here's to another year of bullshit. It's yet another year of being that loser freak Rich Goranski, the invisible boy. At least now it is Rich Goranski. That's one benefit of being ignored. Nobody notices how much he truly has changed over the Summer because no one ever noticed the original version of him. He changed his name but no one will search for the bearer of his old one. No one cares that he finally got a decent chest binder instead of those God-awful bandages. No one misses the long, flowing hair he used to have. The red streak, his impression maker, goes undetected.

So there he is, about to give in to the inevitability of another terrible school year, when the theatre doors burst open and his life is changed forever.


	2. Chapter 2

Rich doesn't want to make a habit of trusting suspicious shadowy figures trying to sell him pills in the back of the auditorium, but the offer intrigues him. It just sounds too good to be true. A pill that will make him instantly cooler. Yeah, right, and he's a magical unicorn who shits rainbows. Lame. Honestly, it's pretty low for an older student to try to take advantage of desperate kids like this.

"Fuck no," He tells him, throwing his backpack over his shoulder and pushing past him. Except, the other guy grabs him as he passes and won't let go. "Hey!"

"Sorry, what was that? A SQUIP could help with that lisp, you know."

Rich glares. "It's a speech impediment and I don't care."

"You really don't want to miss this opportunity, Richard."

"I really do. I- How do you know my name?" He hasn't actually gotten up the strength to change it at school yet.

"My SQUIP told me. Aren't you listening? My SQUIP knows everything about you, Richard. It knows all your problems and how to solve them."

"Right..." He pulls away from the death grip on his arm.

"You won't regret it."

Rich sighs. If what this guy's saying is true, it could be life changing. What does he have to lose anyway? So he gets drugged. It's not like he hasn't wished for the same on purpose before. It's kind of morbid to think but maybe, if it's all a trick, he'll wind up in a ditch somewhere and he won't have to go to school tomorrow or ever again.

"How much?"

Smirk. "Six hundred dollars."

Rich balks. "Six huh?"

"Six hundred."

"I don't have six hundred dollars! I'm fifteen. Your squeak didn't tell you that?"

"My SQUIP- Whatever. It's saying, for you, an honour system. You can pay me back by spreading the word about SQUIPs. Just pick it up at Spencer's Gifts tomorrow. If you still want it, that is?"

Oh. "Yeah, uh, I do, I guess." So that's that.

He goes to get it the next day after school, a grey, oblong, pill in a clear plastic baggie. He's not exactly done drugs before, per se, but he accidentally drank too much cough syrup once when he was sick, so he's not totally foreign to the idea. He swigs the pill down with the bottle of Mountain Dew he was given at check out and waits.

He's on the verge of dismissing it all as a weird, elaborate prank when a pounding starts in his temples, then travels to his forehead. It's a good thing he's home alone because he can't control the screams that escape his lips. It's like his head is exploding. That's a phrase he's heard a lot but never understood until this moment. Only migraines aren't supposed to have voices, are they? They definitely aren't supposed to cause hallucinations.

Yet there he is, a terrifying Kermit the frog lookalike, leaning against the door frame, announcing "Rich Goranski, welcome to your SQUIP."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> His SQUIP being Kermit kills me, seriously.
> 
> Rich is my life, though. I might kind of project on him a lot lol. I also have the gap and the lisp! Plus being a short but muscly mlm guy with freckles who dyes his hair. I just love him so much!
> 
> Sorry for short chapters on this fic btw. I'm trying a new tactic for productivity, so it should mean I write more often in smaller bursts, but yeah.
> 
> Please comment if you enjoy! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Richjake? In my AO3?? It's more likely than you think.


End file.
